"Let's make a deal.”

  Wol hissed in my stead, “A deal?”

  The Haetae took a menacing step forward.

  This was not part of my plans. Meeting Mina here in front of the bathroom, superglued to the wall, chatting nonchalantly. Yes, I cared about what happened tomorrow. But any second now–

  “A deal.” Mina crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall, instantly turning it into a photo zone. “You and me.”

  I struggled against the binding to no avail. Nothing budged. This was not good.

  “I don’t care about the Shin estate. Even if I win, the estate is going to get shipped off to Korea where it’ll be pilfered for anything that looks important and locked up. Anything that’s not locked up is going to be shipped to the branch families or used for trade.”

  Something hot and angry rose to the surface, nearly spiraling out of control. “That’s my mom’s stuff you’re talking about.”

  She shrugged. “Not my decision. But what I am interested in is winning this trial.”

  “Why? If you don’t care about it, then–”

  “Connections with the New York elite. Fame. Plus, my own position in the family.” She said. “There was no reason not to participate.”

  “Fine. That makes sense,” I said. “I also have to participate. For obvious reasons. So why’re you even talking to me?”

  “Because unlike me, you don’t have a chance to win,” Mina said simply. “Team up with me and I swear on my name to try my best and return a portion of your mom’s inheritance back to you.”

  “Do not take it.” Wol muttered, “These types of deals are too loose. Too binding. It will restrict you in more ways than you can imagine, my Practitioner.”

  Mina narrowed her eyes, attention shifting to Wol. I moved one of my unstuck legs to put in front of him protectively.

  Goddamit, I was running out of time.

  “Your familiar is a smart one. Where’d you find him?”

  “A podophile vampire had a warehouse full of toes in Brooklyn.” I scowled, thinking back to last night. “I had to eat one. Can you let me down now?”

  She waited for more but it soon became apparent that neither Wol nor I was going to offer up any more information. The pretty girl shrugged and returned to the conversation at hand, “You don’t have much choice. I don’t know what evil thing you contracted to help you summon a familiar, but that won’t help you tomorrow.”

  I subtly tried moving my arm. No luck. But I could move my fingers, and I put it to work immediately. “So you want me to team up with you to do what? Eliminate Valentine first tomorrow? Is that it?”

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  “Exactly.”

  “And then what?”

  “And then I win.”

  My scowl deepened. “There’s another trial. Even if we boot Victor off, you and I still have to face off in the next.”

  “I’m not worried about that,” She said. “If it makes you feel better, our deal can only last until the end of the first.”

  I shared a look with Wol, who seemed to be hesitating. He didn’t know what to make of it.

  This discussion was good and all, but I didn’t have time. The wards scrawled on bathroom tiles wouldn’t last long. Not with the way I put them. I couldn’t help it anymore and flashed a frantic look at the bathroom wall.

  “So?” Mina asked.

  “No deal.”

  She pushed off against the wall. The conversation was coming to an end. She still asked, “Why?”

  “Because my best bet is you and Victor tearing into each other.” I flashed a smile, all teeth and no mirth in the eyes. “If I were Victor? I’d aim for you first. The same way you’re gunning for him.”

  I never got to finish drawing the ritual circle because the whole freaking wall behind me turned completely black. Threads of darkness reached out, evaporating into the thin air. Hwari stalked out of the shadows, silent and still.

  The shadow must have done something to the wall because I was free, I landed on my feet.

  “There she is.” Mina said, her tone the same as before. Evidently, my shadow-familiar easing out of the gloom and undoing her binding was not impressive enough for a bigger reaction.

  “Are we done here?” I felt the slippery darkness behind me fade away, leaving the bathroom wall normal. “Because I have places to be.”

  “Yeah, you can go.” Then she lunged forward, laughing wickedly. “But first, I want to see what you’re hiding in there!”

  I was a step too late and Mina opened the door.

  “What?...” She fell silent.

  I took a look.

  My plan was simple. Trigger a delayed fire alarm, have all the students evacuate and me with them in the chaos. In the ensuing mass panic, Mina, Victor, and the mercenaries would lose track of me. I just needed to create a fire large enough.

  So I did what anyone else would do. I created a circle, surrounded it with wards that prohibit entry, and threw the norigae in with a splash of my blood. I did it in the bathroom, assuming that the surrounding water would dampen the fire.

  What I didn’t expect was the raging swirl of inferno contained within the circle.

  It pushed against the boundaries of the circle, eating away at it from the inside. The runes I’d painstakingly scrawled on the bathroom floor with my knife pulsed with orange light, smoking at the edges from the heat. The fire tornado was thick enough to swallow the entirety of the circle, straining it, and was inches away from burning through the blackened ceiling.

  “What did you do?” Mina asked quietly, her eyes transfixed on the veritable fire storm I had conjured up.

  As she asked, two things happened.

  One. The magical constraints I’d built in –the circle, the runes– burned away to nothingness as the sea of fire from the Yeounui’s folklore burned through everything.

  Two. There was an explosion.

  Layers of densely packed superheated air exploded into us with enough force to lift us off our feet, and slam our backs into the wall across from the bathroom. Hot air flooded the corridor and behind the ringing in my ears and the double vision, I distinctly heard the fire alarm go off.

  Every part of my body hurt.

  And everything started to burn.